We did it!!!

Legacy and I finished our first Prelim today...it was incredible. Dressage went really well...we scored a 35.5 (my secret goal was to break 40)...lower is better in eventing (like golf). Most of the comments were related to him needing more energy and moving forward...that will come once I get the hang of the sitting trot. I felt really confident with dressage and really just felt proud to be riding him. I'll tell you what, warming up with the likes of Boyd Martin and Buck Davidson and knowing they are in your division and they have these incredibly fancy horses is a bit intimidating, but we held our own for our first showing.

It was a quick turnaround for jumping. We got out to the show jump area and I quickly walked the course with Danny. The jumps didn't look bad at all, so I wasn't feeling like stadium was going to get me. So he warmed up really well...I was overriding and I knew it, but I couldn't help it. I was too amped up with emotions. Seth said I looked like I was going to pass out before I jumped... The course rode well and he was so much better...we had a good rhythm and he was jumping really well. We still need to work on the softness in his jaw between the jumps...he still locks against me. I messed up one of the combinations trying to leave out a stride for some reason, but Legacy was super honest and we came out with 2 rails (8 penalty points). Overall, I was really happy...most of the stadium mistakes were me overthinking and trying to do too much instead of just letting it happen. But what was good is that we recovered by the next fence for all of our errors. That's what was much different about the course...if you miss your striding, it affects quite a few fences and there isn't much flexibility in the course. It was a different ride.

Then on to XC...let me tell you, I was overwhelmed with the jumps when I walked it. I tried to pretend like I didn't think they were too big, but I was nervous. I had the same feelings when I moved up to Training, but when the jumps start to get so wide...it's intimidating when you are on foot. So I tried to ignore it, but fences #3, 4, 5, 6 were all pretty big and I was just hoping I would see the distance and not screw up too bad to cause something to happen. So we start out and he takes #1 easy and then doesn't want to turn to go to the House at #2. He tends to bow out a lot when we are galloping which is now going to cost us time faults, so we have to fix that. Anyway, he jumps #1 and 2 right in stride and I'm feeling good and thinking I overanalyzed on my course walk. We come into #3, the Skinny Table, and he just lauches over it...it was incredible. We then gallop down to the big brush and he was a little looky at the ditch in front so I ask for a long spot and again, he just skies over it (he needs to learn he doesn't have to jump the brush). So he jumped awesome and for the first time I actually felt hang time over the jumps...it was like we were flying. I need to continue to work on my eye with the larger, wider, fences, but any mistakes I made, he was able to fix it, so it worked. The bending tables, water, and coffin all were smooth....not as easy as our combos were at Training, but not terrible. Just a few extra strides here and there, but he's athletic enough to be able to adjust to that. So we finally get to the bank to the corner (my nemesis). He jumped in over the log perfect, dropped quietly off the bank and then we just never got our line to the corner. You had to have a line, or it wasn't going to happen. So we had a runout to the right...but I circled around and took him back at the corner and jumped it on a slight angle to close the right side and he jumped it perfect. I was so happy that it didn't escalate to a big fat E. Then it was on to the last 2 and home. I've never been so happy for a runout...haha. I truly was just happy to finish and felt that everything was positive. The runout shows what we need to work on, again just having the connection quicker after obstacles is going to become so perfect. I'm not going to be able to go on a loose rein at a corner. It was a fabulous day...I had a lot of support from family and friends and it was so amazing to have so many people in your corner rooting for you. I finished 2nd to last, because Boyd Martin fell off, but I don't even care. This picture is the perfect representation of this day...this was over #3 the Skinny Table. We set out to go Prelim and we proved we belong...on to Rubicon!!!